Storm poised to make big signing

Storm captain Bode Adeluola with the National Cup trophy Hemel won last season. (File picture by Lin Titmuss).

Published:20:45Tuesday 29 January 2019

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Hemel Storm are poised to strengthen their line-up ahead of tomorrow’s (Thursday) signing deadline as they battle for a place in the end-of-season National Championship playoffs.

Storm chairman Tony Humphrey revealed the club’s strategy this week which he said included “a major and hugely exciting new signing” to help boost the team’s chances against sides with imported foreign talent.

He said: “Our coaches are in the process of making roster changes too and our new-look team will be challenged with the single target of reaching the playoffs,

“Our supporters deserve the excitement of the knockout stages of this year’s competition and I know the team will be doing their absolute best to deliver that outcome...more than ever we need [our fans’] noise at each of the remaining seven home games.”

The club has 14 league games left and are in 13th place in the table – one of the two relegation spots.

But Storm’s 3-9 league record this season includes five defeats by an average of just three points and includes an 80-83 loss in November to Team Newcastle, who will be the visitors to Hemel Leisure Centre this Saturday.

Hemel head coach Robert Youngblood said: “Obviously those close losses have really hurt our league placing.

“But we’ve analysed each of them and have been making slight technical changes this week on top of the work that’s going into strengthening the squad.

“Getting to the playoffs is what we’re all about now and we’ve proved before how competitive we can be in one-off, knock-out games so there are no limits to our ambition.”

Saturday’s game with Team Newcastle tips-off at 7pm.

For tickets or further information, visit the website www.stormbasketball.net.